Preheat the oven to 425˚. Cut tomatoes in half, seed them and coat with olive oil. Place tomatoes on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until the skins begin to darken and blister. Remove from oven and let cool. Remove the skins and reserve the pulp and all the juices.

Coarsely chop the shallots, carrot and fennel. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and sauté chopped vegetables until they are very soft. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Add the stock and herbs and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the tomato pulp and reserved tomato juices. Remove the herb sprigs. Puree the soup or run the pulp through a food mill or fine sieve for a smoother soup. Season with salt and pepper and extra herbs, if desired. Keep warm over low heat.

Lower the oven to 400˚. To make the parsley croutons, brush both sides of baguette slices with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Rub one side of baguette with garlic. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley and bake until brown.

Add the cream to the soup if desired and heat until warm. Ladle soup into warm bowls and float 3 parsley croutons on top of each.

Serves 4

Adapted from TOMATOES, A Country Garden Cookbook by Jesse Cool

Summer Cherry Tomato Dressing

Summer Cherry Tomato Dressing

Ingredients:

8 ounces small cherry or other tiny tomatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons drained, oil-packed sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons drained capers, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

½ teaspoon minced fresh garlic

¼ teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir gently to combine. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes (or up to 30 minutes) to let the flavors mingle and to let the tomatoes marinate some. Stir gently before serving over fresh green salad. May also be refrigerated overnight.

Yield: About 1 ¼ cups

Adapted from Edible Dallas and Fort Worth, Summer 2010

Curried Tomato Pickles

Curried Pickled Tomatoes

Ingredients:

2 pounds unripe green tomatoes

2 medium yellow onions

4 to 5 fresh whole red chili peppers

3 to 4 cups seasoned rice wine vinegar

3 bay leaves

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon whole allspice

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon whole cumin

Directions:

Sterilize 4 or 5 pint-sized jars by boiling in hot water or running them through the dishwasher without detergent.

Cut tomatoes into wedges. Cut the onions into wedges approximately the same size as the tomatoes. Alternate layers of the onions and the tomatoes in the sterilized jars. Place 1 chili pepper in each jar.

In a large, nonreactive pot, bring all the remaining ingredients to a boil for 5 minutes. Strain and pour evenly over the onions and tomatoes. Let cool.

Add enough liquid to the jars to completely cover the vegetables and reach within ½ inch of the top of the jar. Add more vinegar if more liquid is needed. Cover with the lids and store in the refrigerator. Give them a minimum of a few days before eating. Good for at least 2 months in the refrigerator.

It appears that the latest visitor to the edible landscape garden is a Brown Shelf Fungus. It was found on one of the logs that has been used as a garden seat. Fungi are many-celled filamentous or singlecelled primitive plants. They lack chlorophyll and must live on decaying plants to get carbohydrates.

The Brown Fungus produces hydrogen peroxide to decompose the cellulose in the wood. Since the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a small molecule, it can move rapidly through the wood. This will mean that the decomposition will not be just surrounding the area of the hyphae or filaments of the fungus. The log will eventually decay and become part of the surrounding soil.

There’s still time (just a little…) to get your tomatoes in for a fall crop. Jeff Raska, horticulturalist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and longtime tomato grower, will share his recipe for success with this garden favorite. We will also have a few extra tomato plants available for sale after the class.

Jeff has helped design a tomato trial, which we are implementing at Raincatcher’s. Our volunteers will plant two of the same variety of tomato into each of three raised beds to demonstrate results from different types of fertilizer: compost, organic and chemical.

Raincatcher’s is a demonstration garden and project of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Dallas County Master Gardeners located on the campus of Midway Hills Christian Church. To find the fellowship hall, please park in the west parking lot and come through the courtyard to the south church building.

After the class, we will be hosting a tomato sampler lunch with suggested donations of $10 per person. Details below.

If your green thumb is ready to branch out into living color, visit our Rainbow Garden for inspiration and plan on taking lots of photos. You’ll find a colorful mix of flowers and vegetables growing in harmony. In the summer heat, early morning is a good time to stop by. Enjoy iridescent dragonflies and come face to face with giant bees casting their drunken shadows on the garden, touch fuzzy silver green lamb’s ear, and see if you can identify standing cypress. (Hint- it is red.)

See the violet morning glory threaten to take over the purple heart growing beneath it. Compare the many shades of blue flowers and notice the exuberant orange Mexican sunflower. Inhale the aroma of fresh basil and see how the eggplant and strawberries are doing.

Now take a shady break under the garden’s charming vine-covered entrance arbor and make notes before heading to the nursery to create your own rainbow. The rainbow garden doesn’t get any shade from the hot summer sun and receives only minimal supplemental water so you know these plants can take the heat in your own sunny spots at home. Drop by anytime and let the garden inspire you.

Insects are as a group complicated and mysterious. Everyone loves dragonflies. Butterflies have clubs and societies devoted to their protection. Gardens are designed just to attract them. There are t-shirts and even jewelry to honor them. Why every sighting seems to cause joy and excitement.

Oak Galls are amazing and mysterious—but for some reason nothing seems to be done in their honor.

Handfull of Oak Galls

This is not fair–and this is why. Oak galls are made by tiny creatures almost all of these are cynipid wasps. Just as there are different types of butterfly that will lay eggs on only a specific type of plant, different types of cynipid wasp that will only lay eggs on one type of oak. The tiny egg produces chemicals that cause the tree to produce the strange growths called galls. The galls are different for each type of tree. The larvae hatch inside the gall where they eat and live until they are mature and able to hatch, fly mate and start the process all over again.

<Larvae Centered Inside Oak Gall, Cradled by Pink Fingernails

The galls are hard to see until they fall to the ground. If this happens before the creature is mature the gall can be cut open to reveal the little larvae. Of course, then it will not become a wasp—but this might be ok—in the interest of science.

The larvae only eat inside the gall. They do not damage any more of the tree. In fact the tree is almost never harmed by galls. The adults are wasps, but they do not sting. The galls themselves can be beautiful like the oak plum galls which do indeed look like little fruits.

Gall formation is unpredictable. Some years there are a lot of them, other years very few.

All in all these are simply little creatures that happen to have developed an amazing way of protecting themselves as they grow to be adults.

Have you ever heard of anyone planting oak trees in hopes of attracting cynipid wasps—it is doubtful. There seem to be no societies to appreciate and protect them.

This needs to change. Look around for oak galls. Tell your children their wonderful and amazing life story. Now surely someone could design a great t-shirt!!

What fun! It isn’t very often in the hot summer months that a gardener gets to “unwrap” a rainbow of corn. However if you grow Glass Gem Popcorn, each ear holds the excitement of different colors and combination of colors. Shucking them is like Christmas in July.

Glass Gem Corn Grown by Carolyn

Pictures of Glass Gem Corn have gone viral on the internet—and for good reason. Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds calls it “The Worlds Most Beautiful Corn!” Bakers Creek’s description of it says: “105 days. Amazing color! Indescribably beautiful flint or popcorn in an endless range of colors. Translucent kernels really do shine brilliantly like glass – on the cob they resemble strands of glass beads! The 3”-8” ears are consummately decorative, but edible and delicious as well. Makes firm little morsels when popped, and can also be parched, ground into meal, and more. Sturdy plants reach to 9’ in height and throw numerous sideshoots where the season is long enough. Bred from a number of Native varieties by Carl “White Eagle” Barnes, the famous Cherokee corn collector to whom we owe our gratitude for his life’s work of collecting, preserving and sharing so many native corn varieties.”

Carl Barnes was half-Cherokee and, as a way of connecting with his Native American heritage, he began collecting seeds. Throughout the years Native Americans gave him ancestral types of corn that had been lost when the Tribes were brought to Oklahoma in the 1800s. Fascinated by the colors found in some of these Indian Corns, he began to select, save, and replant seeds from especially colorful cobs. Over time this resulted in a rainbow colored corn.

A fellow farmer, Greg Schoen, met Barnes at a Native Seed gathering in 1994. Schoen and Barnes became close friends and many seed exchanges took place between them. When Schoen moved to Sante Fe, he crossed some of Barnes’ seeds with traditional varieties, and even more vibrant colors and patterns were produced. According to Schoen, Glass Gem corn came from a crossing of Pawnee miniature popcorns with an Osange red flour corn and also another Osage corn called Greyhorse.

In 2009 Schoen passed some of the seed to Bill McDorman who owned a company called Seed Trust. McDorman is now the executive director of Native Seed/Search and started offering the seeds on line. Within a short time, Barnes “rainbow colored” corn became an internet hit and even has its own Facebook page. today many different seed companies carry Glass Gem corn.

In Dallas corn is usually planted from March 23- April. It does best in fertile, well-drained soil, and is a heavy nitrogen feeder during the vegetative state. Waiting to let the soil warm thoroughly is important for seed germination as is sufficient watering. Corn is wind pollinated and it is recommended to plant in blocks of at least four rows. To prevent cross pollination from other varieties, you can separate different varieties by time (plant at least 10 days apart) or distance (200 feet.)

Though there seems to be some inconsistency in how to classify different corn types, in general there seems to be four major types of corn: sweet, flint, dent, and flour. Sweet corn is what we eat on the cob or it can be canned or frozen. It contains more sugar than other types. Flint corn, also known as Indian Corn, has a hard outer shell and comes in a wide range of colors. Dent corn, also known as Field Corn, is most often used for animal feed and to make different industrial products. Dent corn is named for the dimple that forms in the middle of the kernel. It accounts for 99% of all corn production in the United States. Flour corn has soft kernels which makes it easy to grind. Popcorn is actually a type of flint corn. It has a hard outer shell over a soft starchy content. When popcorn is heated the natural moisture inside the kernel turns to steam that builds up enough pressure for the kernel to explode.

To use Glass Gem Corn as a popcorn, it is recommended to let the kernels dry out thoroughly. In fact, one review said it took nearly a year before it was ready to be popped. The resulting popcorn is white rather than colored as it is only that hard outer layer that contains the color.

It is possible to save seed and try to propagate your own color combinations. For example, if you wanted mostly blue corn, you could save seeds from cobs that were mostly blue. However, it is the glow of a rainbow of colors that makes Glass Gem Corn so unique.

If you want to try something different in your vegetable garden next year, try Glass Gem Corn—and have your own Christmas in July.

One of the joys about growing your own heirloom vegetables is to feel connected to the past as one learns about the rich history behind a particular plant. Though many of us grow the “usual” vegetables, such as those found in the seed racks at big box stores, it is fun to experiment with more unusual varieties. This year I am trying to grow several heirloom seeds from Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds, www.rareseeds.com. They include Magnolia Blossom Tendril Pea, Clay Cowpea, and Glass Gem Corn. As they mature, I hope to share some of their stories.

Peas are a hardy cool season crop. Aggie-Horticulture recommends planting them from January 18 to February or from August 23-November for a fall crop in North Texas. The optimum ground temperature should be around 40-75 degrees F. Peas can be grown in any good quality soil; however an addition of plenty of compost or synthetic or organic fertilizer will help produce a larger crop. Some gardeners dampen their seeds before planting and inoculate them with live rhizobial bacteria which will improve the growth and nitrogen-fixing ability of many legumes.

Peas can be planted 1-1 ½ inches apart at a depth of about 1 inch. Some peas are bush types while others are vining. If a vining variety, a study trellis should be used. I often use an upside down tomato cage tied around a bamboo stake. However, the Magnolia Blossom Tendril Pea’s vines grew too tall for the 52 inch tomato cage and the cage fell over since it was too top-heavy.

Some common insects and diseases of peas are the pea aphid, fusarium wilt, and powdery and downy mildew. It is recommended to rotate pea crops to a different location every 3-4 years. If peas are harvested frequently, they will tend to produce longer. Peas left on the vine too long tend to get starchy and the pods become tough.

The unusual pea that I tried growing this year, Magnolia Blossom Tendril Pea, is noted for having less disease problems. Bakers Creek Seed catalogue says of it: “An innovative typertendril snap pea bred by Dr. Alan Kapular, PhD. Hypertendril plants make enlarged tendrils in place of some leaves. The tendrils make for a more open habit, allowing better airflow and reducing diseases. And they are also good to eat! They are wonderful in salads or as a garnish, and they taste just like peas. Sturdy 5-8 foot plants are very productive. The plants yield deliciously sweet snap peas for weeks. Vigorous 5-8 foot vines produce bi-color flowers. Flavor peaks just before the string turns red. 70 days.”

Peas growing in Carolyn’s Garden

In researching this pea, not only was its hypertendril growth interesting (though the hypertendrils do taste like peas and would make an interesting addition to a salad, one reviewer said that his children felt like they were eating hair), but I was equally fascinated by an article about Dr. Alan Kapular, PhD, who bred Magnolia Blossom Tendril Pea.

An article from Fedco Seeds (www.fedcoseeds.com) said that as a child he was equally interested in both orchids and baseball. He entered Yale at 16 and graduated first in a class of 1000 with his undergraduate honors thesis earning the highest grade Yale had ever bestowed. After receiving his doctorate in molecular biology during the time that the structure of the genetic code was being discovered, he became dismayed when he felt that many of his colleagues were using their knowledge to develop lethal viruses for the US government. To everyone’s surprise he left his job and lived in poverty on the west coast where he met his wife. He started saving seeds because they were too poor to buy them. Eventually he collected over 6000 seeds and started a company called Peace Seeds which was bought out by Seeds of Change. Much of his work recently has attempted to de-hybridize hybrids to create open-pollinated varieties so the seeds can be saved and they can remain in the public domain.

Though next year I may try growing some other “unusual” vegetables, as I too found the hypertendrils to have a strange texture which was not to my liking, the flowers were quite pretty and the plant was vigorous. Plus they certainly are a conversation piece.